Charge: High driver killed teen pedestrian

BY LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 7:48 am, Wednesday, March 13, 2013

A Buckley man accused of running over a teen as he walked hand-in-hand with his girlfriend has been charged with vehicular homicide.

King County prosecutors contend Cody R. Money was high on marijuana and prescription painkillers when he drove into 16-year-old Justin Relethford on Halloween. Money, 20, is alleged to have had a blood-marijuana level nearly twice the legal limit hours after the fatal crash.

Relethford and his 15-year-old girlfriend were walking on state Route 410 near Enumclaw just before 8 p.m. on Halloween when Money approached them.

According to charging documents, Money let his Nissan Titan pickup drift over the fog line as he answered his ringing mobile phone. Money didn’t even brake before the truck slammed into Relethford just south of the Enumclaw city limits. The truck narrowly missed the teen girl holding Relethford's hand.

Speaking with police, the girl said Relethford insisted she walk closer to the road's shoulder moments before the crash.

“Switch sides with me,” Relethford told the girl, according to her account. “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to you.”

Relethford died before aid could arrive. The girl suffered a minor injury to her arm.

Money allegedly admitted he was looking at his phone when he slammed into Relethford.

“It … all happened so fast,” Money told the officer, according to charging papers. “I looked up and that was it.”

Writing the court, a State Patrol detective said Money admitted to smoking marijuana shortly before the crash and to taking a painkiller-derived drug often prescribed to help opiate addicts overcome addiction. He claimed to have stopped smoking painkillers the month before.

Money tested positive for oxycodone – a prescription pain medication – as well as marijuana during a blood draw conducted three hours after the crash, the detective told the court. Money is alleged to have registered an active THC level of 9.5, nearly double the 5 nanograms-per-milliliter standard set under the state’s marijuana decriminalization law.

Money has been charged with vehicular homicide. He has not been jailed in the case.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article included an incorrect spelling of the 16-year-old Justin Relethford's last name. Seattlepi.com regrets the error.